


A Gift of Evolution

by sonicbros



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Canon Related, Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mild Christmas Themes, Pre-Slash, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:25:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonicbros/pseuds/sonicbros
Summary: Sonic takes a trip to the chao gardens, but unexpectedly finds Shadow visiting as well.Inspired by theChao in Space animation.Update: This fic is possibly abandoned and I may not be finishing it. Read at your own risk.
Relationships: Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 14
Kudos: 151





	A Gift of Evolution

**Author's Note:**

> [Here are pictures of the chao featured in this chapter!](https://sonic-bros.tumblr.com/private/613002997243527168/tumblr_EN9taxvQgkjJXE4kY)

Sonic placed his fists on his hips and took a deep breath of the clean, crisp air, sighing contently out of his mouth as he gazed out at the scenery. Mountains stretched in every direction, and despite the time of year, there wasn’t any snow on the ground. The elevation wasn’t very high at all, but these peaks were far from any city, unpolluted, and the trail Sonic was taking was scarcely used. 

He'd been navigating the rough terrain for tens of miles and still had a few more to go. He had to move a little slower than usual, but he wasn’t complaining—he made the trip every couple of months, when he could spare the time, and it was a good way to make sure he could still handle his footing.

After a few more minutes, Sonic spotted an archway he knew very well and grinned widely to himself. He slowed his pace until he was down to a walk, approaching the final steps to the entrance of the first chao garden he’d be visiting on his trip. 

He expected to be greeted—or rather tackled—by a handful of chao, like he normally was, but as he entered, with pleasant excitement blooming in his chest, he blinked in surprise.

“Shadow?” he asked, eyes wide, as he watched his so-called-rival sit surrounded by the handful of chao that resided at the garden there.

The darker hedgehog sat with his legs crossed, in the middle of the unorganized scatter of chao, who were each making soft, giddy coos as they tore into presents—ripped red and green gift wrap was littered all around the ground. He looked over at Sonic and blinked, his relaxed brows furrowing into the state Sonic normally saw them in. Sonic’s voice caught the attention of a few chao, and two of them immediately got up, running over.

“Chao!” a red swim-type chao squeaked, raising its arms to the blue hedgehog, smiling up at him. The other, a yellow run-type, grabbed onto his leg.

“What are you doing here?” Shadow asked, moving to stand.

Sonic eyed him in surprise, reaching down to pick up the chao who had its arms extended, giving it a gentle smile. “I came to visit the chao,” he said, looking back at him. “What are you doing here? What’s with all the presents?”

Shadow eyed him back, frowning for a moment, before he huffed. “I was just leaving,” he said, ignoring the questions. A couple of chao looked up at him when he spoke, and the younger of the two, one that had already taken on the markings of a power-type, teared up, though it went unnoticed by the hedgehogs.

“Hey, wait a sec’, faker,” Sonic said quickly, giving him a half-smile. “I haven’t seen you in months. Why don’t you stay? We can catch up?”

Shadow huffed at him again, opening his mouth to decline, but he was interrupted by a sob from the young chao at his feet. It began to cry loudly, dropping its toy and getting up, waddling over to Shadow. The dark hero blinked down at it, his brow twitching, but he glanced back at Sonic. “Fine,” he said, before leaning down to pick up the crying chao, cradling it gently.

The whole encounter caught Sonic off guard. He thought it was quite the coincidence that Shadow happened to be there the same day he was, and watching the other hedgehog comfort the tiny animal was strange. Although he believed them to be friends, he knew Shadow probably only considered him a colleague, or maybe an ally at best, so they hardly spent time together. 

Maybe that was the reason the moment felt oddly and abruptly… intimate, as he watched Shadow rock the chao, which immediately began to quiet it down.

“I wonder why it’s so moody,” Sonic wondered aloud, walking over, though he had to limp, as he still had a chao attached to his leg.

“It’s close to evolving,” Shadow answered, without looking up.

Sonic blinked again. “And?” he asked, not getting it.

Shadow glanced at him. “They become more sensitive just before evolving,” he clarified, petting the chao in his arms once before going to set it down again, so it could continue playing with its new toy. Its mood seemed to instantly turn around once Shadow said he’d stay.

Shadow moved away then, silent, walking over to the water.

A mixed fly- and swim-type chao looked at Shadow and decided to fly up into the air, a doll in its hands, and follow him to the water. Sonic watched him, completely confused and even more intrigued, but just shook his head and sat down with the chao. The one on his leg detached once it realized the position wouldn’t allow him to stay, climbing into Sonic’s lap as soon as he was sitting properly. “Alright, guys. Let’s see what you got,” he said, happy to play and rest with them for a while, not questioning where the presents came from just yet.

-

Sonic sat against a tree, leaning back with his arms behind his head, having spent the entire day with chao and their various new toys. Nightfall was fast approaching, and most of the chao were winding down, a couple already fast asleep for the evening, many clutching their new favorite toys.

Along with playing and visiting with the chao, Sonic had tried to get _anything_ out of Shadow. He’d asked every question he could think of, but all Shadow would give him was that he had been busy with work for the last few weeks. He wouldn’t even directly answer his original questions—why he was there at the garden in the first place, and what was with the presents?

Despite all that, Sonic still deduced a lot from Shadow’s interactions with the chao. He never would’ve thought that the guy could be so gentle. The whole day had remained just as intimate as it had first felt. It was as if he had been allowed to watch some rare phenomenon occur. 

Shadow was still there, entertaining the last few chao that were still hyper, just as he’d been doing all day. He’d draw on the ground when handed crayons or roll cars around when the chao felt like sharing.

“Hey, are you staying the night?” Sonic asked his counterpart, who was sitting against a tree multiple feet away, with a brown fly-type chao in his lap, flipping the pages of a picture book for it and two others, a white chao with a tree-stump on its head and the red swim-type Sonic had been first greeted with, both leaning into opposite sides of him.

Shadow looked over at him, thinking. “Yes,” he answered, before returning his attention to the book in his hands.

“Cool,” Sonic said nonchalantly, eyeing him curiously before closing his eyes and moving his hands from behind his head. “I spend a night at each of the three gardens. You should come with me, tomorrow.”

“Maybe,” was all he said, flipping another page, glancing at the red chao to his left, who had dozed off.

Sonic was just glad his immediate answer wasn’t, “No.”

The chao on Shadow’s lap flapped its wings and flew off of him, over to a pile of books, picking up another before returning to him, finding the same cozy spot back on his lap.

“This one?” Shadow asked it quietly, to which it nodded, smiling up at him. Shadow nodded back to it, before setting aside the first book and taking the new one, opening it up. “This one has words.”

“Chao,” the creature responded, leaning back against his abdomen, looking down at the first page.

“Okay,” he said, before beginning the story. It was a human classic, a story about saying goodnight to inanimate objects. 

Sonic closed his eyes as he listened, and by the end of the story, not only were all the chao asleep, but the blue hedgehog was as well.

-

Much later in the night, a loud cry tore both Sonic and Shadow out of their respective sleeps. Sonic blinked his eyes open quickly, and Shadow flinched awake—luckily, he had moved the chao from his lap before he had fallen asleep himself. They were both on their feet in milliseconds.

A black run-type chao had woken up and become bored. It decided to distract itself by pushing a toy car around, when it had accidentally pushed it too far, into the water, unable to retrieve it. It sat by the edge of the pond, crying heavily in frustration and sadness.

Sonic frowned worriedly, moving over just as Shadow did the same. 

“What’s wrong?” Sonic asked groggily, half-asleep as he knelt down to inspect it, not noticing the car in the water because it was so dark.

“It dropped a toy,” Shadow said, his voice quiet, so not to disturb the other chao. He knelt down as well, reaching into the water to grab the toy car, pull it out, and shake it off, before setting it down on the ground.

That didn’t make the chao feel any better, however, so Sonic moved to pet its head. “Don’t worry, buddy,” he said softly, still drowsy, but there was love and care in his voice.

Shadow eyed the other hedgehog, tired from being woken up so suddenly, thinking silently. He looked back at the crying chao, pausing for a second before adding his hand to the chao’s head, petting it along with Sonic.

Sonic rose his brows in surprise, glancing over at Shadow, who kept his gaze down that time. However, after a moment, the chao made a soft noise and stopped crying, closing its eyes as it was pet by the both of them. Sonic looked down at it and smiled a bit, sighing in relief, about to move his hand away, but Shadow stopped him.

“It wants us both to pet it,” he said.

Sonic looked over at him. “What? How do you know?” he asked, voice hushed.

“I just do,” he said, moving his hand away only to pick up the chao before it could get upset again, getting to his feet. Sonic understood, standing with him, and keeping his hand on its head. Together, they moved over to a tree and sat down.

“You know,” Sonic started, still petting the chao, who was now beginning to relax in Shadow’s lap, “you’re really good with these little guys.” 

Shadow added one of his hands to its head. He kept his eyes down on it, quiet, not responding to that.

“Why—” Sonic started, but was cut off.

“The humans started a toy drive for the chao, during this time of year,” Shadow began, watching the one in his lap close its eyes again. “It’s their ‘holiday season’,” he continued, “And I volunteered to deliver the presents.”

Sonic blinked over at him, leaning back against the tree trunk. “Why?”

Shadow scoffed quietly at the question. “Because it’s easier for me to chaos control here,” he said.

Sonic eyed him. “Well that’s really generous of you, Shadow.”

Shadow finally glanced over at him, eyeing him back, before simply looking back at the chao they were comforting. He didn’t respond to that, saying nothing for a long minute. “The locations of these gardens are secret,” he said. “And I’d prefer if it stayed that way.”

Sonic gave a small hum of understanding, hesitating, before moving his hand away from the chao, letting Shadow take over, as it seemed to be growing sleepy. “Well, I’d say we’re doing a pretty good job of that so far,” he said with a quiet laugh, looking over at the other hero.

Shadow nodded, watching the chao now, not going to look back at him anymore. “I’ll go with you to the other chao gardens.”

“Really?” Sonic asked, smiling broadly.

“Yes.”

He nodded, settling against the tree a little more. “Cool,” he said, watching for another moment before turning his head, looking at the garden, at the moonlight reflecting off the pond, and then at all of the many chao sleeping soundly on the grass. Within a minute, he’d unintentionally fall back into a restful sleep, leaning back against the tree trunk.


End file.
